Winter at Almenara: The Turning of the Year
The rains that started in November have continued to fall through December and after the long summer months of cracked soil and dusty winds, the land is drinking again, and winter’s soft green is all around us. As the landscape shifts, so do we. This moment between years feels like a natural threshold: a pause to look back, to give thanks, as well as to sense the new shoots already stirring beneath the surface.
This December marks the end of our first year as a cultural association—twelve months filled with unexpected collaborations, steady growth, and plenty of learning-by-doing. We opened the year with our Flexagon course, and that beautiful hexagonal space is now pulsing with life: community meetings, film nights, workshops, and the simple joy of gathering.
We also launched EMCCINNO, our three-year Horizon Europe adventure where art, culture, and regeneration intertwine to explore how communities like ours can navigate the climate transition with creativity and courage. And just as the year winds down, a new branch has sprouted: JARA – La Janda red de Acción RegenerativA, our collaboration with Candela and Aitor from Objetivo de Luz, created to weave Almenara more deeply into the fabric of our local community.
JARA – La Janda Red de Acción RegenerativA
People often ask us how they can get involved in what we are doing on the land – if you are one of those people, here’s your chance to get involved! JARA is a new initiative launched with the support of Candela and Aitor from Objetivo de Luz, as well as the Catalina team. At our very first gathering, we applied mature compost to heal part of Catalina’s soil and, in the long golden light of the afternoon, sowed and mulched a future understory. Our second session focused on how to make good compost and collecting seeds for future ecological restoration and the third focused on how to prune fruit trees and forest trees.
JARA’s programme of activities will run throughout the rest of winter and spring, and will offer lots of opportunities to care for the land, learning by doing, and participating in a network of people from our local community who are committed to regenerating our territory. JARA will meet twice a month—one weekday, one weekend—and anyone from La Janda can join these hands-on regenerative activities. Compost, planting, pruning, water-retention work, seed harvesting, propagating cuttings… each session is a small piece that plays its part to restore our shared home.
Our rhythm is simple:
10:00–14:00 – introduction, ecological context, hands-on learning
14:00–16:00 – lunch together
16:00–18:00 – second activity
Join our Telegram group for up-to-date information on future dates and activities:
https://t.me/c/almenarafestival2024/1
Sharing our pilot project in La Janda…
In November we presented the EMCCINNO project at a press conference that closed with an entertaining moment involving the presence of our totem Being of La Janda – the Northern Bald Ibis. The Museum of History and Archaeology in Vejer hosted the presentation of the European project ‘EMCCINNO’ (Empowering Cultural and Creative Industries for Systemic Innovation in a Sustainable Climate Transition), at an event attended by Vejer’s mayor, Antonio González, and representatives of the Be.Time Cooperative and the Almenara Association who are leading the initiative in Andalusia, with the support of the European Union and the collaboration of the Vejer Town Council.
Funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe programme, this ambitious project will run from 2025 to 2028 and aims to put art, culture and creativity at the service of ecological transition, promoting artistic, educational and eco-social practices in five countries —Germany, Portugal, France, Hungary and Spain— with a special focus on Vejer de la Frontera and its surrounding areas. We’re are looking forward to launching our programme of cultural actions committed to climate transition in January!
Seeds: an incalculable value
In collaboration with Parpado/Be.Time, we’ve launched our Mobile Seed Library—a tiny traveling sanctuary of local varieties and the stories that keep them alive. Over the past weeks we have rolled out the first activities, beginning a collective, playful, and deeply rooted experiment: how do we rebuild a culture of seeds in La Janda?
The mobile library will visit plazas, shops, schools, and markets throughout the region, inviting people to exchange not just seeds but memories, techniques, recipes, and family histories. Each seed is a fragment of identity, a whisper of place. As we collect them, we gather a living archive of La Janda’s agricultural soul.
If you have seeds to contribute—or stories—please reach out. More information here: https://www.parpado.net/semillas/.
Permaculture Magazine
Our latest article for Permaculture Magazine International has just been published. If you’re curious to follow global regenerative movements, this magazine is a treasure trove of practical wisdom and inspiring experiments from around the world: https://www.permaculture.co.uk/subscribe/
And here is a previously published article (no longer in print) that we’re delighted to share with our community: https://www.almenara.online/en/celebrating-the-harvest-and-reimagining-the-yield/
Residential Earth Care Steward – Vejer de la Frontera, Spain
Our resident arborist Thomas is moving on in spring to start his own exciting project in France. This means that here at Catalina, we’re seeking a Resident Earth Care Steward to live in community and work on-site, caring for the land while guiding its next phase of regeneration. The role involves coordinating daily Earth Care work, supporting volunteers, and refining our systems for tree care, soil building, and agroforestry. Ideally, this role would begin in February or March 2026, though we can be somewhat flexible.
The right person will be grounded in permaculture design, with experience in regenerative agriculture and/or syntropic agroforestry, and comfortable leading small teams with clarity and care. This is a resident position for someone proficient in English and Spanish, organised, collaborative, and ready to imagine a multi-year commitment following an initial trial period.
Our remuneration has two parts: a modest paid salary with benefits, plus food, private accommodation, and access to community spaces and resources.
If you’re drawn to work where water, trees, and people grow together, we’d love to hear from you! Write to us at this address.
